Hi birders,
Today on my daily walk in Jacks Valley (south of Carson City), I
called in at least six black-throated sparrows with my iBird application.
They came in quickly, displaying all around me ... in 19 years here, this is
the first year I've seen this species in my neighborhood.
I used to tease Jack Walters for "cheating," when he used his
cassette tapes of bird calls to bring in Virginia Rails, but I now see the
thrill of using calls to attract birds. We've come a long way in a short
time ... Jack used to lug that portable cassette player and have to switch
cassettes ... my phone app has all the North American birds, plus Costa
Rican birds, too!
Has anyone ever seen the black-eared bushtit variety around
here? Had a mystery bird on my walk that looked like a bushtit but was
solitary and had some dark cheeks. Now that I look in my book, I see this
variety listed ... will go back and try to find it.
The cedar waxwing flock of about 20 birds has continued to come
in and out of our yard for more than a month, another first for us. They
definitely love the waterfall in our small pond, and the juniper and Russian
olive trees for food. They are unpredictable and don't seem to like the
wind, so I haven't seen them for two days now
Black-headed grosbeak pairs have been feeding with the Cassin's
finches at the sunflower feeders, and the Bullock's oriole adults and
juveniles continue to spar at the grape jelly feeder ... oh, and I also saw
a silent flyby of about 10 pinyon jays on my walk, another first ... what an
interesting spring it's been in Jacks Valley so far!
Good birding all . Linda Hiller
Linda Hiller
(775) 267-3580 home office
(775) 781-4916 mobile
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www.savingmystories.com